Christmas Every Day

“We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing”

— Pericles, in Herodotus Histories

“All ancient history was written with a moral object; the ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others.”

— Tacitus

“They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger… they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor… They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.”

— Tacitus

“If you would know who controls you see whom you may not criticise.”

— Tacitus

It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.

— Herodotus

“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.”

– Thucydides

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.

— Thucydides

If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own.

— Herodotus

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects. 

— attributed to Herodotus but really the product of notorious scamp Mark Twain in Acknowledgments for A Horse’s Tale

All this month of February this section will feature observations by the world’s greatest historians.

History is Philosophy teaching by example.

— Thucydides